Digital Commons Network^™

Impact Of Dam Height And Grain Size Distribution On Breaching Of Non-Cohesive Dams Due To Overtopping, Heather O'Donal

Theses and Dissertations

The National Inventory of Dams reports 74,400 earthen dams in the United States in 2021, of these dams approximately 27% are considered at high or significant hazard risk, that is dam failure will cause widespread damage and loss of lives. The most frequent cause of dam failure is breaching caused by overtopping. Accurate predictions of breach evolution are thus crucial to determine flood hydrographs for the safety of communities and properties at risk. Laboratory experiments were conducted on non-cohesive, compacted embankments to understand the role of dam height and sediment grain size on breaching caused by overtopping. Dam heights varied …

Feasibility Of A Parent-Focused, Stress Management Intervention To Decrease Adolescent Bmi, Reduce Stress, And Increase Well-Being Among African American Families, Colby J. Kipp

Theses and Dissertations

African American adolescents in the United States experience a higher prevalence of obesity as compared to their White counterparts. This health inequity presents a public health concern as consequences of weight-related chronic diseases often persist into adulthood and are increasingly problematic. As chronic stress has been found to be higher among African American youth compared to White adolescents, it presents as a potential barrier to participation for African American families in health promotion interventions. Additionally, it may be beneficial to target stress in health promotion programs as a modifiable factor in conjunction with health behaviors that may improve outcomes related …

Gpu-Enabled Genetic Algorithm Optimization And Path Planning Of Robotic Arm For Minimizing Energy Consumption, Yichuan Cao

Theses and Dissertations

The robotic arm represents a complicated mechanical system and advanced engineering principles in robotics, enabling precise and efficient manipulation and interaction with objects in a variety of applications, such as manufacturing, healthcare, space exploration, and other industries. In most cases, energy consumption of robotic tools has been given little consideration due to their perceived insignificance compared to the benefits they offer. However, the increasing capacity demands of factories and the expanding use of robotic arms necessitate careful evaluation and reduction of energy consumption. In this regard, given a task configuration, adjusting the arm's movement path emerges as one of the …

Groundwater Flow And Salt Marsh Migration: The Forest/Marsh Boundary, Camille Rossiello

Theses and Dissertations

Salt marshes migrate landward in response to sea level rise, but the rate of this migration is not constant and can be influenced by pulse disturbances. Long term observations at Sapelo Island, Georgia, show that salt marsh migration has occurred during droughts, but the mechanism for this migration is unclear. Drought is thought to influence salt marsh migration by reducing fresh groundwater discharge from the upland. Rising sea level also encroaches on the upland, which could cause movement of the freshwater lens inland. A two-dimensional numerical model was built to simulate groundwater flow and solute transport based on the Marsh …

Expanding On The Solid State Chemistry Of F-Element Chalcogenides, Logan Skyler Breton

Theses and Dissertations

An overarching goal in solid state chemistry is to achieve predictability regarding the synthesis of compounds with desired properties. While this goal is far from being reached, solid state chemists are hard at work synthesizing and characterizing new materials to further our understanding of structure-property relationships, and to expand our fundamental knowledge to rationalize the outcomes of solid-state syntheses. With the advent of new solid state synthetic methods, novel compounds exhibiting exciting properties are still being discovered today. The infancy of these synthetic methods promises a myriad of undiscovered compounds with potentially interesting properties which has resulted in a recent …

Parent Facilitation Of Child Emotion Regulation In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Aimee K. Rovane

Theses and Dissertations

Parents play a substantial role in their children's emotional regulation (ER) abilities, promoting both adaptive and maladaptive development. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulties regulating their emotions, manifesting in externalizing behavioral issues (Mazefsky & White 2014). Though there are many similarities to parents of typically developing (TD) children, parents of children with ASD facilitate their children's ER development (i.e., emotion socialization) in response to unique challenges, often developing resiliency but other times contributing to their children’s dysregulation and behavioral challenges. Using Morris et al.'s (2007) Tripartite Model of Family Impact of Children's Emotion Regulation and Adjustment as …

A Bayesian Spatial Scan Statistic For Normal Data, Laasya Velamakanni

Theses and Dissertations

Scan statistics are useful methods for detecting spatial clustering. While they were initially developed to detect regions with an excess of binomial or Poisson events, spatial scan statistics have been extended to detect hotspots in other types of data including continuous data. They have many applications in different fields such as epidemiology (e.g. detecting disease outbreaks), sociology (e.g. detecting crime hotspots), and environmental health (e.g. detecting high-pollution areas). Spatial scan statistics identify a ‘most likely cluster’ and then use a likelihood ratio test to determine if this cluster is statistically significant. Spatial scan statistics have been extended to the Bayesian …

Neural Mechanisms Of Lexical Semantics: Investigating The Roles Of Hubs And Distributed Action-Perception Systems, Nicholas Andrew Riccardi

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the meaning of words and concepts is vital for communication, forming relationships, and navigating everyday life. Loss of this knowledge through brain damage can have drastic consequences for one’s health and well-being. It is therefore important to learn how this information is organized anatomically in the brain. In this dissertation, I report a series of structural and functional neuroimaging studies in healthy adults and survivors of stroke seeking to understand how lexical semantics are represented. Specifically, I used a variety of tasks to examine the contributions of putative ‘hubs’ and distributed action-perception systems. Results indicated that damage or disruption …

Predicting Material Structures And Properties Using Deep Learning And Machine Learning Algorithms, Yuqi Song

Theses and Dissertations

Discovering new materials and understanding their crystal structures and chemical properties are critical tasks in the material sciences. Although computational methodologies such as Density Functional Theory (DFT), provide a convenient means for calculating certain properties of materials or predicting crystal structures when combined with search algorithms, DFT is computationally too demanding for structure prediction and property calculation for most material families, especially for those materials with a large number of atoms. This dissertation aims to address this limitation by developing novel deep learning and machine learning algorithms for effective prediction of material crystal structures and properties. Our data-driven machine learning …

The Effects Of Technology Integration On Academic Performance And Engagement Of Third Grade Social Studies Students: A Mixed Methods Study, Ashley Megregian

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of technology integration on third grade social studies students' academic performance and their engagement with the content of map skills at Peony Elementary. The study took place during the Fall of 2022 with 14 third grade social studies students. There is low academic performance and a lack of engagement from elementary students both nationally and locally. This research explored three questions related to the effects of integrating technology on student academic performance and engagement. The first question looks at the impact of integrating technology on third grade students’ academic performance …

A Qualitative Study Examining And Comparing Families’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of School Readiness, Shalonya Cerika Knotts

Theses and Dissertations

A child’s readiness for school can impact their trajectory in subsequent grades and later in life. Therefore, children must be prepared when transitioning to kindergarten. As a kindergarten teacher at a Title I elementary school, I noticed a lack of readiness and conducted this qualitative action research study to create a readiness plan for my school by examining and comparing families’ and teachers’ perceptions of school readiness. The participants included my students’ parents and caretakers and my fellow kindergarten teachers. The findings indicate similar perceptions of school readiness. The family and teacher samples both associated readiness with academics and peer …

Capturing Visuals In Hospitality: A Multi-Dimensional Exploration Of Photographs In Interdisciplinary Research, Ningqiao Li

Theses and Dissertations

The widespread practice of photo-taking and sharing behavior fosters research on photographs to probe into consumer behavior and business strategies. Consequently, the critical role of photographic research has been acknowledged in the fields of marketing as well as tourism and hospitality. To delve deeper into understanding photographs, this dissertation carried out three independent but interconnected studies to examine photographs from both macro and micro perspectives.

The first study systematically reviews photographic research across sociology, marketing, computer science, and tourism and hospitality. It explores key topics, methodologies, and theories, and compares the merits and drawbacks of various research methods employed in …

Multimodal Digital Literacy Practices: Perspectives Of L2 Academic Writing Instructors, Priscila Jovazino Bastos Medrado Costa

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of my dissertation study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of English language instructors about the use of multimodal digital technologies in the teaching of academic writing. Writing academically in English as a second language (L2) is complex and multilayered for international students, and multimodal digital literacy practices are essential in the writing process in the age of information technology. The literature on multimodal digital literacies applied to L2 English instruction and to academic writing and the literature on teachers’ impressions about instructional technologies are vast. However, there is a need for further studies that address the …

A Systems Approach To Design And Plan Sustainable Antifragile Infrastructure Based On Aggregate Footprint And Satisfaction, Farboud Khatami

Theses and Dissertations

The concepts of robustness and sustainability in planning and design of water and energy infrastructures have been extensively explored in previous research, primarily focusing on system reliability, environmental considerations, and economic aspects. This study aims to broaden the understanding of these concepts by offering comprehensive frameworks that capture the essence of robustness and sustainability at two distinct levels.

The first level of investigation focuses on the performance of infrastructure networks during natural disasters. Traditionally, this has been addressed using reliability, resilience, and vulnerability metrics. However, these methods rely on static, deterministic, and non-stationary data, which is inadequate when dealing with …

Reading Strategies: Impact On Fifth Grade African American Males’ Reading Comprehension And Motivation To Read, Patrice Antoinette Barrett

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to implement four close reading strategies (Aha moment, Hmm moment, B.U.R.N. strategy, and R.A.P.) and evaluate its impact on fifth grade African American male students’ reading comprehension skills and their experiences with reading at Wisteria Lane Elementary. This intervention study focused on two research questions: how does the implementation of close reading strategies impact the reading comprehension skills of fifth grade male students, and in what ways does the implementation of close reading strategies influence fifth grade male students’ motivation to read in other classes? Nationally, African American boys suffer with weak reading …

Individual Differences In Perspective-Taking During Language Comprehension, Kanan Benjamin Luce

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found mixed results for a link between executive function and perspective-taking. One proposed reason for this is that perspective-taking during comprehension tasks may not be internally reliable. This dissertation presents two large individual differences experiments with multiple perspective-taking during comprehension and executive function measures. We aimed to see (1) whether people were consistent in their ability to take perspectives during comprehension, (2) if the typical tasks used in this area were reliable, and (3) whether executive function measures predicted perspective-taking ability. We found a lack of reliability of some of the most commonly used perspective-taking during comprehension …

Instructional Coaching: A Support For Increasing Engagement In Middle School Mathematics, Christi Ritchie Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

This observational case study employed a qualitative design to investigate the impact of student-centered instructional coaching and self-determined professional development on student engagement in middle school mathematics. Research demonstrates that engaging students in the learning process increases their attention and motivates them to engage in higher-level critical thinking. Teachers who adopt a student-centered approach to instruction increase opportunities for student engagement. Instructional coaches are used as a professional development tool to support teachers with student-centered instructional practices to engage students in their learning. This four-week study involved two sixth-grade mathematics teachers conducting Number Talks in one of their classes of …

Machine-Learning Classification To Predict The Dimensionality Of Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Halide Perovskites, Yatiwelle Koralalage Samuditha Sandaru Yatiwella

Theses and Dissertations

Low dimensional hybrid perovskites have demonstrated remarkable performance in photovoltaic applications, primarily due to their exceptional optical and electronic properties. As the search for potential candidates for novel materials continues, understanding the structure of these materials is crucial for investigating their stability. In this study, we implement a framework to find novel material based on a machine-learning model. The machine learning model was trained to predict the dimensionality of the polyhedral network based on the connectivity of the polyhedral network in different directions. The polyhedral connectivity of low-dimensional structures can be classified into three dimensions: 0D, 1D, and 2D. This …

Yield Extraction For The Γd → Λ X Reaction, K H P Nishadi Hasarangi Silva

Theses and Dissertations

Improving and adding new experimental measurements of hyperon-nucleon (YN) and hyperon-deuteron (Yd) cross sections is an active area in nuclear physics research. Scientists use such cross-section data to understand the composition of neutron stars and develop a comprehensive picture of the baryon-baryon interaction. Using high luminosity photon beam incident on a long liquid deuterium target and the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), a sample of hyperon-deuteron elastic scattering events was previously identified. The E06-103 (g13) experiment was originally designed to address the scarcity of experimental data on hyperon photoproduction off the neutron …

Analysis, Measurement, And Modeling Of Millimeter Wave Channels For Aviation Applications, Zeenat Afroze

Theses and Dissertations

Millimeter wave (mmWave) communication systems can employ a large amount of spectrum, and can consequently offer large data rates, e.g., multi-Gigabits-per-second. This technology can be used in many sectors: aviation, vehicles, public transportation, robotics, autonomous factories, etc. Yet mmWave communication systems suffer from some propagation challenges, including large free space path loss (PL), large penetration loss, and large diffraction loss. Hence, it is vital to quantify these and other channel effects to ensure link reliability. Most mmWave systems will employ directional antennas to enable acceptable link distances. In many settings this will require directional receiver antennas to rotate in azimuth …

Stem Educators’ Perceptions Of Gender Bias And The Contributing Factors That Persist For Women In Stem Education, Haleigh Nicole Kirkland

Theses and Dissertations

Social influence from society holds the key to social norms that influence students and their future aspirations. Gender bias is considered one of the influencing factors that affects the decisions of female high school students on participating in STEM education. This descriptive study describes the key factors that STEM educators perceived as influential for female high school students' participation in STEM education. The research questions of the study included: (1) What are high school STEM educators’ perceptions regarding gender bias in the STEM School of Study cluster at Skyler High School and (2) What factors do high school STEM educators …

Streamwise And Vertical Dispersal Of Tracer Stones From A Continuously Supplied Source, Amanda Grace Balkus

Theses and Dissertations

Individual movement of sediment grains is oftentimes studied with the use of tracer stones. Studies performed both in the field, in the laboratory and with numerical models involve installing a patch of stones (tracers) on the bed surface and rarely deep in the deposit. Once installed, particle displacement is monitored over time scales varying from one flood to several years. These studies are useful, for example, to study bedload transport dynamics, understand contaminant fate and transport as well as to identify and define stream restoration practices (e.g. quality of fish habitat). Here we use a vertically continuous model to study …

Effects Of Caffeine On Measures Of Clinical Outcome And Recovery Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury In Adolescents, Jacob Michael Eade

Theses and Dissertations

OBJECTIVE: The overarching purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of habitual caffeine consumption on mTBI outcomes in adolescents. BACKGROUND: Adolescents who suffer an mTBI have an increased risk for neurological impairment and symptomology. Thus, it is important to elucidate modifiable lifestyle factors that have the potential to influence injury outcomes and recovery. Caffeine is a legal psychoactive compound prevalent among the adolescent population. Marketed as an ergogenic aid caffeine coincides with recreational activities where incidence of mTBI is high. However, no human study has explored the influence of caffeine consumption on mTBI pathology. It was hypothesized that …

Development Of Atomistic Machine Learning Approaches For Thermal Properties Of Multi-Component Solids And Liquids, Alejandro David Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

Currently, heat transfer in many industries is the limiting factor for innovation, especially in the energy sector. For example, maximizing thermal conductivity of ceramic coatings in power plant devices improves the overall electrical to thermal energy ratio, whereas minimizing thermal conductivity is required for desirable heat-to-electricity conversion in thermoelectric devices. As such, rapid discovery of new materials with extreme thermal conductivity values is quintessential for the near-future deployment of current and developing energy applications.

The vibrational properties of crystalline materials are essential for their ability to conduct heat. Fundamentally, the restorative atomic forces of displaced atoms are sufficient to represent …

Faculty Perceptions Of Readiness And Confidence For Teaching Online: An Evaluation Of Online Professional Development, Kevin Brent Forman

Theses and Dissertations

Regardless of how prepared faculty were to teach online classes, the COVID-19 pandemic forced leaders of universities and colleges and faculty nationwide to pivot to emergency remote teaching and forced students to take online classes. To prepare faculty for the shift to online instruction, administrators in colleges and universities provided resources, such as online trainings, to orient less experienced instructors to principles of online education. The Online Pedagogy Program (OPP) at Midwest Community College was developed quickly in response to the need for urgent training in effective online instruction. After 300 faculty completed the training, an evaluation of the Online …

The Role Of Environmental Context In Supporting Children’S 24- Hour Movement Behaviors; A Positive Deviance Perspective, Roddrick Dugger

Theses and Dissertations

Background: During summer, children display less favorable movement behaviors than the school year. To investigate the role of environmental context in supporting children’s ability to meet the 24-hour Movement Guidelines (i.e., Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity: ≥ 60 minutes, Sleep duration: 9-11 hours, Screen Time: ≤ 2 hours), this dissertation had three primary aims: 1) Utilize the Positive Deviance Framework to identify unique practices and resources that enabled children to meet guidelines, 2) Examine potential associations between the neighborhood built and social environment with movement behaviors by household poverty experience, and 3) Identify specific features of the family and home environment that …

An Examination Of Semester-Long Review Of Behavior Referral Data At A High School In A Southeastern State, Shalanda L. Shuler

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine semester-long referral data from a ninth-grade cohort in a public school in a southeastern state. The research question for this study was the following: What will the examination of semester-long referral data from the entire ninth-grade cohort of a public school in a southeastern state reveal? The problem that prompted this study centered around the ninth grade having the highest number of office disciplinary referrals (ODRs) in the Henderson County school district (pseudonym). Students who routinely receive ODRs run the danger of failing their classes and are more likely to have been …

Implementation Of A 3d Laser Profiler System Into A Non-Contacting Method For Rnt & Stress Measurements, Caio Neto Penna

Theses and Dissertations

Continuous welded rail (CWR) is susceptible to the development of internal forces in the rail due to thermal effects that can lead to track buckling. Railroads typically deal with the internal stresses in the rail through the inspection of the rail neutral temperature (RNT) which is the temperature at which the internal force is zero. The existing methods in the industry to measure RNT are contacting, destructive, disruptive to railroad operations, and ineffective. The proposed concept is a promising non-contacting, non-disruptive and reference-free technique to measure RNT and the stress state in the rail. The method is based on the …

The Influence And Impacts Of Critical Literacy Intervention In Preservice Teachers Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy: A Mixed Methods Study, Heather Lynn Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Critical Literacy (CL) is a teaching strategy that is designed to promote critical consciousness and enact social justice change as learning occurs. Critical literacy can promote and included in teacher education programs as a tool to increase Pre-Service Teachers (PST) Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy (CRTSE). The researcher examined the impact of implementing CL instruction as an invention in teacher education programs to study their self-efficacy in culturally responsive teaching in this mixed methods study. The participants (n=90) reported a statistically significant in CRTSE, along with an increased understanding of terms and frameworks of CRT and CL as well as increased …

The Effect Of Computer-Based Learning Modules On Pre-Algebra Student Proficiency And Self-Efficacy In Manipulating Math Expressions Involving Negative Signs, Brian Charles Grimm

Theses and Dissertations

Middle school students who need help understanding how to manipulate math expressions involving the negative sign have demonstrated difficulty learning pre-algebra content that prepares them for higher-level math courses. This study involved a multi-media intervention to improve student negative sign proficiency and math self-efficacy. The following research questions were explored: (1) How and to what extent did the computer-based intervention influence students’ math proficiency in manipulating math expressions involving negative signs? (2) How and to what extent did the computer-based intervention influence students’ math self-efficacy in manipulating math expressions involving negative signs? and (3) What were students’ perceptions about the …